Yesterday Inside Timeshare published the news that Ragnar Lyng had sold his 50% share of Anfi to Lopesan. Gran Canaria Info, an online news and information site also published the story, they also asked one question, why so cheap?

Thinking about this, 41 million euros is a rather low price for the Anfi resort, even if it is only a 50% share. One has to ask is it because Mr Lyng just wanted out due to all the problems he and Anfi are having?

You do have to wonder at this, after all it is one of the largest timeshare concerns in Spain, and definitely the largest in the Canaries. It consists of 1000 apartments, over 30,000 members, a marina, 2 golf courses and a huge commercial center. Then there are the plans for the new beach and marina at Tauro, which will also include a new shopping center and new hotels which will have around 5000 to 7000 beds.

We know the Cazorla side have the controlling share, with Santana Cazorla having control of the board of directors. Somehow I cannot see Lopesan putting up with that situation, there must be something else in the pipeline. We also know from other news reports that Santana Cazorla has “retired” to Morocco, all this under the cloud of the investigations into Tauro Beach, with a senior official being dismissed along with others who must now be fearful of the same as well as being under threat of prosecution.

It is also known there was no environmental study carried out on the project, which means we do not know what impact the 70,000 tonnes of untreated Saharan sand would have. The fact this beach project is also only 300 meters from a special area of conservation, should have been a major point of having full and detailed environmental reports. All this has come out because of the investigation instigated by the Guardia Civil into the project, for the Guardia to be involved it must be extremely serious.

Then we have the residents of Tauro Beach, it was only in August that many of the homes were flooded. These floods are a direct result of the man made beach, the natural protection from high tides was removed, thereby allowing the sea to just wash over the beach and cause mayhem. These residents have also made official complaints to the Guardia Civil, adding even more pressure on the beleaguered Anfi Group.

This is a story that will not be going away for some time, again the question must be asked, how is all this going to affect those 30,000 members of Anfi? After all even without the developments of the past month, Anfi have been severely battered in the courts, with 17 Supreme Court rulings made against them on behalf of clients represented by Canarian Legal Alliance. So we now wait for the next chapter in this story.

If you have any questions or concerns about this or any other timeshare matter, contact Inside Timeshare and we will try to answer them. If we don´t know we will find out for you.